A Singing Saint

Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Święty Maksymilian Maria Kolbe (1894-1941)

by Gary D. Penkala

Two new saints were recently canonized: Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis. One was known for his vibrant athleticism and his care for the poor; the other for his youthful enthusiasm and love for the Eucharist. One lived and died in the early 20th century; the other in the early 21st century. Hearken back about eighty years or so, to recall another saint, outstanding for his selfless courage in a Nazi concentration camp: Saint Maximiliam Kolbe.

Raymund Kolbe was born January 8, 1894, to a German father and a Polish mother in the Kingdom of Poland. At nine years old, he experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who presented him with two crowns; a red one indicating martyrdom, and a white one indicating purity and chastity. He indicated that he would accept them both, which he did, and thus began a life-long devotion to Mary. Undoubtedly in his youth, he would have known many Marian hymns, some in Latin (Salve Regina), some in Polish (Serdeczna Matko)

Together with his older brother, Francis, Raymund joined the Conventual Franciscans. He professed final vows in 1914, taking the names Maximilian Maria. He studied in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1918, near the end of World War I. Fr. Maximilian worked as a missionary in Japan and Malabar until 1936.

As the Germans began the fighting of World War II, Kolbe was living at a Polish monastery and he rigorously published religious tracts, often of a resistance nature. In February 1941, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo, and was tranferred to Auschwitz in May as Prisoner 16670. Fr. Kolbe immediately began ministering to his fellow prisoners. Only about two months later began the dramatic timeline that led to the heroic acts leading to his canonizaton.

In late July a prisoner escaped from the camp. In customary retaliation, the commandant, Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, ordered ten men to be chosen and starved to death in an underground bunker. Upon his selection, Franciszek Gajowniczek, prisoner 5659, a Catholic Pole, cried out, "My wife! My children!" Kolbe volunteered to take his place — a surprising proposal oddly accepted by the commandant. The ten men were led to Block 11 – Cell 21, which was the starvation chamber.

For two weeks without food or water, Fr. Kolbe exhibited an intense prayer life, celebrating daily Masses, praying with his fellow prisoners, and leading them in song. This was witnessed by Bruno Borgowiec, a prisoner who served as interpreter between Polish and German speakers. "For him to get these men to sing with him, to pray with him, he must become as vulnerable as they are and open to them in a way that makes him a real father to them." This experience and interaction led not only to Fr. Kolbe's sanctification, but also to that of his fellow prisoners on their way to death. While the titles of the music are not recorded, it is likely that the Gregorian chant, Salve Regina would have been among them, being the familiar Marian hymn for the summer months.

On one occasion, outside the starvation bunker, a woman involved in forced hard labor, began singing a Polish patriotic song in defiance, perhaps Siekiera, motyka – Axe, Hoe. She is shot. Fr. Kolbe leads his prisoner comrades in the same song, as others in the camp join in, infuriating the Germans. In addition to intense prayer and fervant singing, he heard confessions, he supported and encouraged others, and at every moment was ready to share the sacrificial love of Christ.

At the end of two weeks, Kolbe and three other prisoners were still alive. The German guards, impatient to have this ordeal finished, injected them with lethal carbolic acid. Maximiliam Maria Kolbe died on the eve of the feast of the Assumption, August 14, 1941. His path to sainthood began. He was recognized as a Servant of God by Pope Pius XII in 1955, declared Venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Two miracles led to his Beatification in 1971: the July 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis in Angela Testoni and the August 1950 cure of calcification of the arterial sclerosis of Francis Ranier.

Kolbe was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982. The pope declared him as a confessor and a martyr of charity. Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man Kolbe saved at Auschwitz, survived the Holocaust and was present as a guest at both the beatification and the canonization ceremonies. He said later:

I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me — a stranger. Is this some dream? I was put back into my place without having had time to say anything to Maximilian Kolbe. I was saved. And I owe to him the fact that I could tell you all this. The news quickly spread all round the camp. It was the first and the last time that such an incident happened in the whole history of Auschwitz.

In a sad twist to this story, Gajowniczek died in 1995 at the age of 93, but his wife and children preceded him in death. His two sons, who were the ardent appeal that saved his life, died in a Soviet air raid in central Poland in 1945, before his release. Gajowniczek spent his entire life promoting the cause of that stranger, Fr. Maximilian, who sacrificed all for him.

As we recall this heroic saint, we can join in singing the honor of the Queen who shares heaven with him.

Maryjo, Matko moja,
módl sie za mnie.
Niech Bozy pokój splynie
przez Twe rece na mnie.

Mary, Mother of those who die with the Lord,
Mary, Mother of those who have no strength to set out on their journey,
Mother bowed under the cross, Mother who is dying with her Son,
Mary, my Mother.

Article written 20 September 2025